February 2012
1 post
December 2011
1 post
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November 2011
1 post
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A new way to see urban nature - my New York Times video
October 2011
1 post
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Poetry Pairing | ‘That Time of Year Thou Mayst in...
The New York Times’ Learning Network paired my “Autumn Unfolds” series to a Shakespearean sonnet. Not too shabby!
September 2011
1 post
August 2011
1 post
Best website ever →
If you’ve been sweating “bushy” aster id without flowers - good luck with Gleason & Cronquist. This site just helped me confirm that yes, I found both Symphyotrichum pilosum AND S. racemosum and all I have is vegetative bits. Good stuffl
July 2011
3 posts
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Lost in the Wild - full article
Brooklyn was once a verdant landscape lush with vegetation. One hundred years ago, the towering structures that dotted the skyline were tall trees, not tall buildings. Flat terrain characterized by saltwater grasslands dominated its southern extent.
Today, Brooklyn is the New York City borough with the least amount of green. As its open space has dwindled, so has the presence of nature in ...
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June 2011
15 posts
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Biodiversity in Our Cities Panel →
I organized & moderated panel: Biodiversity in Our Cities: The Case for Urban Nature | The New School Panel | June 21, 2011. Check out video Part 1. Share your thoughts on these topics with me!
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Lost in the Wild
Brooklyn was once a verdant landscape lush with vegetation. One hundred years ago, the towering structures that dotted the skyline were tall trees, not tall buildings. Flat terrain characterized by saltwater grasslands dominated its southern extent.
Today, Brooklyn is the New York City borough with the least amount of green. As its open space has dwindled, so has the presence of nature in our...
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You Left Out the Part About ... →
Amazing
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In State Parks, the Sharpest Ax Is the Budget’s →
Think for a minute about the country that created the idea of national and state parks. That country had a vision: there are wild places that are too valuable to be entrusted to the forces of the market, and these wild places are there for everyone to enjoy, forever. Not because it made financial sense, really, but just because it was the right thing to do. This article is talking about...
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May 2011
18 posts
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Wild Read
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service launched a new virtual book club aiming to engage and inspire readers to connect with the outdoors and nature. America’s Wild Read will feature noted ecologist E.O. Wilson’s first novel Anthill, the story of a boy whose Huck Finn-inspired summer in rural Alabama teaches him deeper understandings of nature and its most ruthless predators. The online...
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Play outdoors - urban style
Sunshine - first time in days - spend the morning with my boys outside in Prospect Park in the wooded pockets around the pond. My boys saw trees, flowers, leaves, mud, worms, pond, birds, bumblebee. I saw bare soils, erosion issues, invasive plants, drug baggies, beer bottle caps, groups of men smoking weed (don’t they know about the new smoking ban?), human poop, broken glass. It’s...
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The seeds of bloodroot are stymied by urbanization.
– What I’m working on now - chapter contribution to forthcoming BBG native plant handbook.
A Worthy Event: How to Make Conservation the... →
nybg:
Sorry for the last minute notice on this great event being held this evening at the New York Academy of Sciences, but we just couldn’t let it pass by without drawing your attention to it. The intersection of conservation and community is a topic we hold close to our hearts at the Garden, and if you have the time, you should definitely attend this.
The New York Academy of Sciences
7 World...
Happy International Day for Biological Diversity! Preserve biota where it lives...
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April 2011
4 posts
Saving Urban Biodiversity tonight at APEC
Speaking tonight at Saving Urban Biodiversity - forum at Alley Pond Environmental Center in Queens: 7 - 9.30 pm.
I will discuss how New York City’s biodiversity largely resides in its forests (the dominant ecosystem). Within forests the center of biodiversity is the forest floor – the ferns, wildflowers, sedges that reside there. There is no system or policy in place to protect these...
Plant ID from a distance
red maples (native) - clusters of red
callery pear (invasive) - white
Norway maple (invasive) - yellowish green
oaks (native or planted) - olive green
sassafras (native) - lemon yellow
Question - "Is This Swamp Pink?"
I loved this - someone went to all the trouble of emailing me to ask me if a plant she had seen was the same swamp pink as my op-ed in the New York Times
I saw the Swamp Pink in the NYTimes today and it reminded me of this flower I saw in Florida last month. It was growing in some ferns by the side of the road, near a pier and the bay. Instead of blue polka dots/anthers, it has white ones. I...
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Roundup
It’s interesting to see the discussion that’s come about from my New York Times op-ed. I received many emails, mostly along the lines of:
I loved it!! And at the same time, it made a little sad that so many lovely plants have been extirpated from the boundaries of the city.
Fear not, we’ll be talking a lot more about positive steps we can all take to support and nurture the...
March 2011
1 post
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